My apologies for the catchy title, let me explain in slighly more moderate terms what happened today, July 22nd, 6pm at the first line of security checks -- the staff in the neon yellow jackets standing right between British Airways drop-off and departing flights to European destinations such as Hamburg.

All did is: I tried to enter security with one (1) piece of hand luggage. The security guy I am talking about was relatively small and fat, very short hair, persian/middle-eastern looking, neon yellow jacket; there were two more somewhat taller staff, one female, one male who didn't dare to interfere with him.

My complaints only relate to the small guy. He asked me to put my handluage into the measurement device.I put it there and it did fit (as anyone could see below) in depth, and it did fit in height (far less height than permitted), however it did not fit in width, by at most one inch, which was

owned to the tiny plastic trolley wheels not actual volume.

used extensively by him to personally harras me, full story below

He thereby refused me entry. I explained to him in nice polite ways, that

this piece conforms to IATA carry-on standards as far as the label goes

has been to Heathrow (visiting the UK) and through Heathrow (going to San Francisco) many, many times

specifically on THIS JOURNEY has gone through Heathrow three weeks ago to SFO and back to Heathrow WITHOUT ANY COMPLAINT about it's size.

It can be said, that the U.S. is not exactly lenient on luggage and security, are they?

MOST IMPORTANTLY I just came all the waywith this piece of luggage from San Francisco

ALL THAT WAS AHEAD OF ME, was the short hop to Hamburg!!!

His type of arguing appeared driven by personal esteem, there was not a single, security-related point as anyone can see.

I visually pointed at my suitcase to other travellers that this can't be true. He said I shouldn't become "offensive". --> I do believe pointing at my very own luggage is not "offensive" and perfectly covered by my freedom of speech. He may or may not like it, but if he is professional, that is none of his business. BAA is not Gestapo or Stasi, where you get penalized for gestures, or is it?

I asked to see his supervisor and to get his name.He first refused "no supervisor, no have",...

Q1: Is that the idea of BAA accountability? refusing to contact the supervisor"?

He also refused to give me his name. "For security" of course. Now that makes sense. I then asked him, to give me at least any form of employee number, such that I can file a complaint against him. He looked at his yellow shirt, apparently to reassure, that there was no badge on him or if any, that it was properly concealded below and again refused to do so!!Q3: Is there a concept of "accountability" at British Airports Authority? You have all this "corporate responsibility" rambling on your BAA website...

Everybody else at Heathrow Airport does have an ID: All staff at the x-ray machines, all other security staff, all shop keepers and restaurant folks, just these three people did not. I am pretty sure, it is part of airport regulations, that all employees, especially security, must have visible identification at all times. I don't think they are all wearing it for fun.Regrettably IT DOES GET A LOT WORSE:

After some insistence he pulled out his (seemingly private) handphone and called his "supervisor", which took some time to appear. I would believe a supervisor to be near the site he supervises. Perhaps you can check on your video footage, whether that was truly was his supervisor?

The 'supervisor' talked to him at low volume so I couldn't hear, looked at it and instantly shared his opinion, not being open to any fair evaluation of the situation. Being on the last leg of my flight, being one inch over, having been through Heaethrow with it multiple times,...

Regrettably IT STILL GETS FUCKING WORSE:

I then slightly repacked things to make the top (resp.: depth) of the luggage less bulky. NOW, the whole thing also fitted in depth, in fact the luggage fitted in to 3/4 !!! (only above-said wheels prevented that things fitted 100% in, the body volume was within specification).

Both of them now with a smile on their faces repeatedly asserted, that it has to fit in "COMFORTABLY". Just fitting in is not enough... what kind of ultra-assholes do you hire?

Being an experienced backpacker, I would such made-up rasons only happen in African third-world shithole countries, where officials look for a bribe, where you need "special visa", or "special permit" or well, thing have to fit-in "comfortably".Q: From a BAA angle, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Douglas is Great Britain a third-world shithole country?

Is it appropriate for BAA empoyees to harass customers with such made-up reasons?Q6: Is this accetable behaviour, to harrass a customer over half an inch barring him on the very last leg of his journey. Do you catch many terrorists by doing so?

The argument that I do not want to put my two laptops (being on a business trip..) and my DSLR camera plus lenses in the check-in luggage (all of which I happily showed them) didn't work on them either. All of that I could show and proof. They had just decided to be assholes.

In the meantime many people with similar trolleys walked in. I would have not been able to table if those fitted in 'comfortably'. I had to go to BA with my trolley and check it in. Since I know what can happen to a massive metal can of Sauerkraut on the way forth in check-in luggage (picture below), I still did not want to put my work equipment at risk. So I had to put my 800$ Thinkpad, 1200$ MacBook and approx. 2000$ DSLR and Lenses into a chinese plastik bag (courtesy of British Airways, the handles looked like they could tear off any time) and walk in with these.

I have no idea, what British Airways Baggage handlingpossibly does to it, but anyway this being reasonwhy I am certainly not putting any laptops into British Airwayscheck-in luggage... As you can see, in an official BA size measurement (Hamburg airport, check-in area), depth is certainly perfectly fine.... As you also can see, height is a lot less than allowed and width is perhaps 101% of what it should be (owned to the plastic things). SO WHY DO THESE ASSHOLES FUCK WITH ME?

I really wish, this was the end of the story: Being through security, I went to the supervising office right behind, which was staffed by one woman with curly hair, one asian man and one southern-europe looking man. Asking if they could help me identify these people (It doesn't have to be their private address, any employee number or such would do!), and again they refused, said those were not BAA people. But I could go to BAA.com and "complain" (without any reference, great... you are brave guys, defending the country...)

Apart from that being the usual fuck-off-we-got-a-website answer, it was also not logical:I those were not BAA employee's, what should I do at BAA's website then?"Oh yes, they are subconstractors" they said then. My response was "So they kinda belong to BAA ?! Look, all three of you guys do wear badges, don't you. Why not them?":

At this stage, two incredible things happened:

1) The southern looking person guy made the most stupid point of the day: "Because" they are sub-contractors they don't have to wear a badges. Yeah right, now that makes sense.

2) The woman with the curly hair flipped her badge (on a neckband) and those of their colleagues, so I could not even figure out what kind of Supervisor I talked to !!! Supervisors hiding their identity???

Q: Is this your idea of BAA business practice and accountability? Even more so on non-contractor and supervisor level?

The final fuck-up:I went on with my fucking plastic bag, boarded the plain, had to put my laptops, DSLR camera and lenses WITHOUT ANY PADDING into the overhead compartment and praying that nothign happens to them, i.e. on a bumpy ride.

At Hamburg airport I did, what the A. and his "supervisor" HAD DENIED ME "for security reasons": Taking pictures of my own luggage aka securing evidence. So I photographed my very own luggage at Hamburg airport in different luggage measurement devices:

1) MY LUGGAGE FITS 100% IN A STANDARD AIR FRANCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE !!! (so, do you guys regulary fuck with Air France Customers then, bringing along IATA approved luggage as I did, or was it just having a bad day. I should 'raise concerns' with Air France, since this could happen to anybody relying on Air France measurements... Doesn't it????

2) MY LUGGAGE FITS NEARLY AS PICTURED INTO A BRITISH AIRWAYS MEASUREMENT DEVICE (see the two pictures above!!), it is absolutely ridiculous and not at all the norm to be so intolerant here. NONE of what happened today, actually happended in the name of security. For all the proper padding of my electronics, my backpack was actually relatively light, books would have been heavier (so, no plane overloading here)...

FINAL WORDS:

I am sure this is all not the management's fault,I am sure, recent events put a lot of stress on staff and mangement,I know, security staffing is in high demand, so also idiots get recruited, and you can be sure that

I am usually a mild-mannered person: I got two degrees, I work sucessfully for an international corporation, I spent years in south-east asia, all that shit, I usually get along very well with different cultures and different people. ..

So, Mr. Mark Bullock, Mr. Stephen Nelson-- you have to do some real homework to resolve this:

I want apologies IN WRITING within 10 working days.

I want disciplinary action against these guys being taken. Inappropriate behaviour against customers for one, absence/concealing his badge for another, pointless harrasment of passengers. Not meeting the requirements of a supervising rules as another one. I don't need his ID or name, but I do expect to hear the the outcome

Like everybody else, I do understand that refrigerators and treasure chests won't make it onto board, BUT:BAA must talk to airlines, it is INCREDBLE and EMBARRASING, that passengers en route (and even more so between two all modern, high-security, IATA-compliant airports like SFO and HAM) can be harrassed in such ways by a single asshole.

It would make a hell lot of sense, if the tolerance granted by airlines was slightly less than those by airports, that way, oversized baggage if it gets stopped, it does so before the journey, not en route.

I do demand some form of compensation for the hassle.

As for material damages, I believe one of my long lenses encountered damage (relatively a bargain at 250 Euro). Details will follow, I need to do a test shoot at daylight conditions.

From a corporate/mgr viewpoint: Yes, it is always possible, that an individual employee misbehaves. The risk of that gets a lot less, if there's an INDEPENDENT SUPERVISOR (i.e. not close to him, i.e. not from the contract firm) and a BADGE that offers some form of identification (every fucking pizza driver in the US has that hows-my-driving-ID and phone number, any random McDonalds employee can be referred to, there should be the same level of accountability in security, should there?)

Let's get this over with, I am a nice guy.Already spending far too much time on this horseshit...Fire this asshole, establish decent management structures, get me what I want, End of Story.

Thank you,

Frank

the usual stuff: all protected trademarks and names are owned by their respective owners (wonderful sentence).this disclaimer applies: http://www.disclaimer.de/disclaimer.htmI am not intimidated by sleazy corporate lawyers.Corporate ignorance is not a point of view. I do strike back.